Free new resource: Das Fechtbuch (Dissertation)

Recent dissertation: The Fencing Book: Reserach into the developmental history of the artistic depiction of the Art of Fencing in the fencing books of Southern and Central Europe from the Middle Ages to the end of the 18th century.

Author’s Summary: “The goal of this dissertation was to reveal the history of development of artistic illustration describing the art of fencing in fencing books until the end of the 18th century and to research development and changes contingent to history, on basis of the most important and still existing books.

“The presented works, beginning with Codex MS I.33 from the Royal Armouries Leeds, reveal how the art of fencing in regards to fencing books became a special discipline within the court arts. This happened step by step due to the successive progress of writing. Even though the production of manuscripts was tied to courts and only addressed a certain audience, the knowledge of the fencing art was passed on by the fencing masters in the entire European region due to their mobility….”